Connecting into a Network for Smooth Flow of Goods - Accelerating the Construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor and Observing Containers | Railway Container Center Station | Land Sea
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 8th (Xinhua) - Linking Up into a Network for Smooth Flow of Goods - Observations on Accelerating the Construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Yuhao and Fan Xi
On July 23rd, containers from overseas were orderly loaded onto trains at the Qinzhou Railway Container Center Station in Guangxi. With the sound of a whistle, the 5000th West Land Sea New Channel Rail Sea Intermodal Train of this year slowly departs from here and heads towards the inland areas of China.
Since the first trial operation of the "Chongqing Guangxi New" southbound channel in 2017, the Western Land Sea New Channel has become a major international trade channel for China's economic and trade cooperation with countries along the route, maintaining global supply chain stability.
Recently, reporters visited multiple stations and construction sites of the Western Land Sea New Corridor to experience the surging vitality of this international corridor.
From one line to one network, the infrastructure network continues to improve
The Xubi Railway connects Sichuan Xuyong and Guizhou Bijie, serving as a smooth western route for the new land sea corridor. After the opening of the Xubi Railway, it will be connected to the expansion and renovation project of the Longchang Xuyong section, the Bihuang Railway, and the planned Huangbai Railway, opening up a freight channel from the southwest region to the mouth of the Beibu Gulf.
"At present, the pre station construction of the Xubi Railway has been basically completed, and the progress of the post station construction has exceeded 80%. It is expected to complete all the projects by the end of August," said Ai Tianxin, the person in charge of project construction.
In the coastal areas of China, the construction of the Fangchenggang Dongxing Railway, one of the key projects for the internal extension of the Western Land Sea New Corridor, which is the westernmost end of the coastal railway, is also in full swing.
Liao Gang, Deputy Commander of the Coastal Railway Construction Command of China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd., introduced: "The Fangdong Railway is expected to meet the opening conditions within this year. In the future, it will only take 20 minutes from Fangchenggang to Dongxing, which will further promote economic and trade exchanges between China and Vietnam."
At present, the railway department is gradually improving the layout of the East West Railway corridor, and the quantity and quality of rail sea intermodal trains are increasing, working together to create a logistics corridor that runs through the southwest region of China.
Accelerating the construction of one channel after another——
The electrification renovation of the Huaihua section of the Jiaoliu Railway has been completed, and the construction of a second line of the Yuhuai Railway has been put into operation; The Guiyang Nanning high-speed railway, Xuyong Bijie railway, and Fangchenggang Dongxing railway are under construction; The feasibility study of the Huangtong to Baise railway has been approved
Ports are rising one by one——
Chongqing Guoyuan Port connects the Yangtze River Golden Waterway and the Western Land Sea New Channel; Qinzhou Port has over 30 ASEAN routes, forming a new trade channel with high efficiency and favorable prices between China and ASEAN countries; The first dry port project of the Western Land Sea New Corridor - Chongqing Dry Port Phase I Project - was completed in June, one step closer to its official operation
Stations are connected in series to form a network——
Tuanjie Village Station, Xiaonanya Station, Qinzhou Port East Station... Formerly known as freight stations, they have risen to become "major hub" and achieved rapid turnover of trains; 18 railway container central stations, including China Railway Container Chongqing Central Station and Qinzhou Central Station, provide support for the operation of the new land sea channel from various aspects such as customs clearance and logistics.
The scene of railway construction in full swing from the southwestern mountainous areas to the coastal areas has become a vivid portrayal of China Railway Group's improvement of the infrastructure level of the western land sea new channel.
From trial operation to normalization, multimodal transportation has achieved significant results
Qinzhou Port East Station was completed and put into use in 2015, and at the time of its construction, there were only three tracks here. With the deepening of the construction of the western land sea new channel, the "fishing village station" surrounded by the sea on three sides has expanded and improved, becoming an important hub with 12 tracks and connecting land and sea.
"There are about 20 rail sea intermodal trains arriving and departing here every day, and the annual freight volume has increased from 27000 tons in 2017 to 3.275 million tons in 2022, an increase of hundreds of times." Huang Jiangnan, the station director of Qinzhou Port East Station of Guangxi Coastal Railway Company, introduced.
The changes at Qinzhou Port East Station are just a microcosm of the development of the Western Land Sea New Corridor in recent years. Nowadays, the western land sea new channel train route has developed from the original Beibu Gulf Port to Chongqing, and has become a regular operation of 7 Beibu Gulf Port to provinces such as Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Henan, etc. The radiation range has expanded to 18 provinces, 61 cities, and more than 300 ports in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide.
Data shows that in the first half of this year, the Western Land Sea New Channel trains sent a total of 424000 TEUs of goods, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%; The value of import and export goods is about 350 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 40%.
From radiating to the western region to integrating into the world, facilitating both international and domestic circulation
At Xiaonanya Station in Chongqing, a China Laos Thailand cold chain direct cross-border test train carrying about 500 tons of fresh Thai durian has arrived successfully. Thai durian is transported directly to the Chengdu Chongqing region through the western land sea new channel railway train. Compared to traditional transportation methods, it only takes 4 days now, saving about 6 days of time.
Not only Thai durian, Cambodian rice, Vietnamese passion fruit, Thai perfume coconut... More and more agricultural products from ASEAN countries are entering the Chinese market through the new channel of land and sea in the west, becoming "regular customers" on the people's table.
At the same time, Chinese products are also seamlessly connecting and integrating customs clearance through railway and sea transportation, making it convenient to transport to overseas markets.
"With the help of the western land sea new channel train, our products are transported through Qinzhou Port to Southeast Asia, Europe, and African countries, significantly reducing logistics costs and shortening international order response cycles," said Lin Zheng, logistics manager of Chongqing Wankai New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.
As of now, the company has shipped 467 TEUs of goods through the Western Land Sea New Channel, and will soon ship 424 TEUs of goods with a value exceeding 20 million US dollars.
According to Liu Wei, Director of the Logistics and Operations Organization Center of the Western Land Sea New Corridor, from 2017 to 2022, the transportation categories of the Western Land Sea New Corridor increased from more than 50 types, such as ceramics and panels, to over 940 types, such as grains and automotive parts.
"Looking forward to the future, the new land sea channel in the west will continue to maintain a good development trend, making contributions to supporting the construction of the the Belt and Road and driving the economic development along the line," said Liu Wei.
